A Flock of Six, Again
by SeaSaltChocolate
Summary: They're finally a Flock of six again - Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel. When Max's Voice tells them they need to leave, they set off to conquer the enemy once again. rated T cuz i dunno. maybe FAX later. crappy summary but plz RnR? PRE-FANG
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is my first fanfic, so any reviews are welcome, including "constructive criticism" meaning you can say my story sucks, you just have to be nice about it. :)**

**There is no Total, sorry to all the Total lovers out there…. You can tell me if you want him in.**

**If only one person reads this and wants me to keep going, I will, for that one person. That's my Writing Promise. Check out my profile.**

**Disclaimer: I, sadly enough, do not own Maximum Ride or any of these characters. James Patterson does. But seriously, have you seen his pic? The dude is OLD! No wonder the book FANG went all wonky! No offense, JP, you're a genius…**

_Max's POV_

I'm going to tell you a secret: if Iggy accidentally blows up Nudge right now, I don't think I'll be all that concerned. Really, I don't.

It's because of her that I'm here, crouched in a tree, my wings smooshed up against a particularly pokey branch, wearing short-shorts and a skimpy cami. My little fashionista Nudge has, not for the first time, taken things too far. She, Angel, and Ella'd had the idea that I wasn't 'feminine' enough. Me? I frankly don't give a darn. (why does that phrase sound so familiar?)

Anyway, they decided that if I wasn't going to be girly willingly, they would just have to force me. I'd been taking a shower only to come back and find all my clothes gone, replaced with disgustingly undersized shorts that, I guessed, would hardly cover my butt (I was right) and a three-sizes too small cami. I could hardly yell at the three in my towel, so I pulled on the clothes and set out to find them. And I did – each with a camera in hand.

After attacking me, duct taping my to a chair and covering my face in disgusting goop – my threats that I would burn all their Jonas Brothers posters and snap the CDs seemed to fly right over their heads - they took pictures and let me loose, figuring that one of them would be able to get away with some pictures. They figured wrong.

So, being the hot-headed bird kid that I am, I took the incriminating boxes and booked straight to the woods behind Mom's house. But they wouldn't break, and Nudge and Angel were after me to get their pictures back.

A year ago I would have been able to stop Nudge and Angel with a look, a glance. But now they're more stubborn and, I can't help but think, maybe for the better. After all, Nudge is 13 and Angel's 7. We have a home – for however long that's going to last – and in a couple months we'll be starting school. Maybe it isn't such a bad thing for them to be so independent.

So here I am, hiding in a danged poplar, planning my next move. Suddenly a tree branch snapped. I would have preferred to take to the air, and simply fly away, but that was what they probably expect me to do. Sure enough, I hear Nudge's voice call out "She's probably flying right now!" and then Angel's voice, sounding smug:

"No, she's definitely on the ground. She's thinking about it right now." I grit my teeth. Darn Angel and her mind-reading abilities. _Wow, _I think, trying to project my thoughts, _the air up here's really cold. Maybe I had better land somewhere…. But no, then Nudge and Angel will find me._ I keep up the flying related thoughts until I hear Angel saying, a lot closer sounding than before, "Wait! I think…. I think she's flying now. Her thoughts suddenly changed."

"Well then, what are we waiting for? We should be flying right now, not walking all around through these woods! I mean really, it's like RUINING my hairdo! I just did it! Max looked so pretty with her hair down and curled like that, don't you think? I wonder if she'll let us do it like that again? Maybe if we give her cookies. Mmm, cookies…. Doesn't Dr. M. make the BEST cookies _ever_? Huh?" Nudge babbled on and on, and I could hear her talking even as they unfolded their wings and leapt into the air.

"I mean, they're even better than Iggy's! And that's saying something. Ooh, its cold up here…." I waited until her voice faded away and I was sure I was alone before jumping down. I stretched my wings out to their full 13 foot span. _Ahhh…._ Now, what to do with the cameras?

"Bury them." I let out a yelp as Fang stepped out from a tree.

"Ah! Fang! What are you doing here?" my heart beat a little bit harder as he stepped through a patch of sunlight and crossed over to me. He raised an eyebrow.

"Looking for you, what else?"

"But… how'd you know I was here? Why aren't you with Angel and Nudge?" he chuckled.

"Obviously they'd think you were flying, and you know it. So you would hide on the ground." I rolled my eyes. Fang could read me so easily, it was almost disturbing. Almost. But usually helpful, when we were, say, fighting M-geeks or Erasers. The usual stuff. Deciding to take his suggestion into account, I knelt down and started scraping at the soft ground. A few seconds later Fang was beside me helping, and in no time, we had a decent sized hole. I shoved the cameras in and heaped the dirt on top of them, wanting to get them out of sight as fast as I could. Fang snickered.

"What?" I demanded, rounding on him.

"Nice outfit. Is that mascara you're wearing?" My hands flew self-consciously to my eyes. They came back with black gunk smeared on the backs. Shoot. He was right. I reached up and tried to rub the eyeliner and mascara away, but only succeeded in getting it in my eye.

"Crap!" I yelled. Ugh, if I was blinded because of this junk, someone was going to pay. I squeezed my eyes shut as so not to get anymore glop in them.

All of a sudden I felt warm, slightly calloused hands touch my face. I started slightly, and then felt my breath shorten as Fang's rough voice said "Hold still."

"W-what are you doing?" Fingers gently stroked my eyelids.

"Helping you get this off before you blind yourself," he muttered. My whole body felt tense as he rubbed back and forth under my eye.

"There. It's gone." I opened my eyes and stared straight into Fang's dark ones. My heart pounded, and I felt like a school girl. Neither of us moved.

"Max…" he muttered.

"Fang…" I whispered back.

"There's a huge centipede crawling in your hair."

"WHAT?" I screeched. I leapt up and began frantically brushing at my head. _Bug, bug, bug!_ I thought. "Is it gone?"

Fang smirked. "Yes, Max, you're safe from the big bad bug." I glared at him, and unfolding my wings, burst into the air. And into a tree branch.

"Waug!" I felt myself falling, falling, and then being caught in strong arms. And then I fainted.

"Dang, Max, you just can't stop, can you?" Iggy's laughing voice broke through my sub consciousness. "I mean, we're not running from Erasers, we're not being hunted by Itex, we're not fighting M-Geeks, and you still managed to get knocked out!"

"Max! Max! Ohmigosh are you okay? When Fang came back and he was carrying you, I thought you had died or something! But then I thought, no, she couldn't have died, she still needs to give me back the camera!"

I sighed. "Thanks, Nudge Channel. But I'm fine now." I sat up and a wave of dizziness hit me, causing me to rock backward. _Whoa. Head rush._ Nudge gasped, Gazzy muttered "Cool!" and Iggy wrinkled his nose.

"Your blood reeks, Max." he grumbled, turning his sensitive nose away.

"What?" I said, confused. What blood?

"Max," Angel scolded from somewhere behind me, "you're ruining your curls!" Curls-schmurls, in my opinion.

"Help me up," I demanded Fang. He cocked an eyebrow but put out an obliging arm. Gripping it, I heaved myself up.

"The stairs," I instructed.

We were halfway up when the door slammed.

"Dr M.," I heard Nudge call, "come see Max!"

"I'm fine, for the last time!" I insisted, but my words were slurred. I was aware of the warm liquid now dribbling down my neck. "I've had worse!" and I had. This was like- like- like chocolate chops to the cookies of injuries I'd had before. Okay, bad analogy, but you get the point.

I heard Mom sigh. "I'm sure Max can take care of herself. Now come help me unload these groceries, and Iggy, stay away from that bacon!"

I made it up to the bathroom, and, with Fang's help, cleaned up the wound. I had lost a lot of blood, but it looked worse than it felt.

"Whew," I said, perching on the edge of the bathtub, "next time I'm taking off in the middle of woods, remind me to look up." Fang just smirked. "Ah, well. It's getting late. Now that the daily chaos quota has been filled, I think I'm going to bed." I stood up and, yawning, walked toward the door.

_**Can't stay here much longer, Max. You need to leave soon.**_

"Huh? Why would you say that?" I turned around and looked at Fang. He looked bemused.

"I didn't say anything."

_**You're developing a false sense of security. Enemies could attack you easily – your senses are dulling.**_

I froze. _Shoot._

"Um… Max?"

"Sorry, Fang. It's not you. But… my Voice is back."

_Hello to you too, Voice._

End of Chappie 1

**WELL, dahlings, that's it. Sorry so short but I'm not really a 10 page long chapter kind of person… if you review and want me to keep on going I will. I'll probably go to like Chapter five, and if I get no positive response…. I will go gorge on bacon and soak in the kiddy pool and pout all day. ;) **


	2. Chapter 2

**Oookay, SeaSaltChoco here, with some shout outs first:**

**Veggie1.0– I apologize. Profoundly. (am I a geek or wat?) anyway. I suppose u could say "everyone's doing it!" ever since the famous Diary of a Lovesick Mutant. Next time I'll go wallow in pity while munching on ice cream, it is summer after all. Send me a pint of Ben 'n' Jerry's and wondrous things could happen… :)**

**beaverperson – Sorry. I'm just writing without thinking. When I read I always store interesting or funny or whatever parts in the back of my mind and when I write a lot of them come out without me realizing it. So, I guess I'm sorta kinda copying…. But not really. :)**

**minnesota413 – yeah, sorry so sloppy. Its hard catching all the mistakes when a) the mess-up actually is a word so spellcheck doesn't catch it and b) you expect it to say something so to your eye, it does. Thanks for writing me! :)**

**mayllotypego689****– thanx. Really. You're the only person who really told me to "keep going"… it means a lot to me. :) **

**sorry i'm being so picky****– um, yeah, about that… I'm sure JP or whoever would have come up with a totally cooler and Max-like way to deal with it, but my excuse is: mebbe since Max was just talking to Fang, when she heard the voice, she automatically responded, while subconsciously knowing it wasn't him. I mean, if you had stopped to ASK her, "hey Max, was that Fang?" she probably woulda been like, "wait. No. …HEY! Its my Voice!" but yeah. :) hope that makes it a bit more understandable….**

**TWENTY BILLION CARTONS OF BEN 'N' JERRY'S FOR YOU ALL WHO REVIEWED! (supplied, kindly, by aforementioned "veggie" – isn't that sweet of her? Mwa-ha-ha!) I REALLY APPRECIATE IT, WHETHER YOU'RE TELLING ME I SUCK AND NEED TO FIX A, B, C, D, E, F, G AND H PROBLEMS OR WHETHER YOU'RE TELLING ME TO KEEP IT UP! THANK YOU! **

**I 3 long reviews too, so... if you're up to it…. +waggles eyebrows+**

**So, without further ado, ENJOY!**

**Oh wait. I forgot. What should I call myself? "SeaSaltChocolate", while one reviewer said it was a good name (**** thanx, you!) is insufferably long. Soo… your new goal: help me come up with a nickname! **

**-SSC**

**Oh yeah, the disclaimer: I. Do. +munch munch+ Not. Own. +chew chew+ Maximum. +swallow+ Ride. (ps, I was eating ice cream. 10 points if you can guess what brand.)**

Chapter Two

I think it would be appropriate to say, all dramatic-like, that "I couldn't sleep that night", but in reality, I was deep in dreamland. My Voice was back! Oh okay, okay. So it's back. I'm not gonna lose any sleep over it. I need to get my beauty rest.

The next morning, I wasted no time in telling the Flock about my Voice's reappearance (or re-soundance, if that's a word.)

"So," I began, tearing into a piece of hot bacon dripping with grease, "last night, after I washed out my head wound-" –Gazzy and Iggy snickered here, and I shot them Max's Glare Of Doom – "-my Voice came back. He said we need to leave home as soon as possible." I finished my bacon and had started into a stack of pancakes about a foot high before noticing that everyone had fallen silent. "What? What?"

Nudge had what looked suspiciously like tears in her eyes. "Max, we have a HOME. We have a FAMILY. We're, like, normal. How can we just… just… give it up?" I was shocked, partly because number one, Nudge spoke only four sentences before willingly stopping, and two, weren't we already a family?

"Nudge…" I said slowly, "WE are a family. Me and you and Angel and Gazzy and Iggy and Fang. I mean, yeah, of course Mom and Ella are family too but… We can always be a family together- the six of us- the Flock. Can't we?"

Mom added, "Don't worry Nudge, if you do decide to leave, you can always come back after kicking some Itex butt." I think it was Mom's "kicking some Itex butt" that got to Nudge the most.

"Yeah, you're right Dr. M. I just… just…"

I smiled knowingly and walked around the table to give Nudge a hug. "Didn't want to lose it?" I finished for her. She smiled and nodded. Turning and looking at the rest of the Flock, I raised an eyebrow. "Well? Whaddaya say? Ready to go 'kick some Itex butt'?" Angel smiled, Gazzy and Iggy high-fived and whispered something about testing a new chemical compound – I really didn't want to know – and Fang sat there and looked cool. Ah, that was my Fang. Cool, calm, and collected. Emotionless brick wall – usually. But I knew there was something else under that layer, something stronger. Love.

We all stood and I put my fist in the middle of the table. The rest of the Flock stacked theirs on top and we all tapped. I turned to Mom.

"Mom…" she was smiling, a sad smile, but one that said she understood what we had to do.

"Max, I know you. I know you're going to go into this full force and do what you have to do. You'll meet it head on. You'll risk your life if you have to. But Max… please, don't take _unnecessary_ risks. I'm so glad you came and saved Ella on that day; otherwise, we might never have met. I love you, Max." I felt tears spark. _No. I don't cry. I _will _not cry._ I ran to Mom and smashed into a hug.

"Love you too, Mom. I promise we'll be back." She hugged me tight to her, and I felt her sadness in it. We broke apart when I heard light footsteps behind us. It was Ella.

"…Max? You're leaving?" she started at me from across the room, eyes wide and accusing. "Max, you're my sister! You can't leave! You practically just got here!"

"I'm sorry, Ells…" and I was. I felt bad about leaving her behind, I really did – Ella was almost part of the Flock. But that was the problem: the _almost._ She didn't have wings, and I knew she couldn't come with us. It broke my heart.

"You said- you said-" she sniffed loudly. "You said that you'd be my sister forever!"

I started walking toward her. "Ella, I AM your sister, and I always will be! This is just something that the Flock and I need to do. Please understand!"

She backed away from me.

"Please, Ella! You're one of my best friends; I can't stand leaving knowing you're mad at me!" I saw, to my horror, tears welling up in her eyes, spilling over.

"You PROMISED, Max! You SAID!" And she ran from the room. I stood, frozen in the doorway. What had I done? Was this the right thing to do? The Flock was willing, and Mom said she understood, but….

_**Don't worry, Max. You're doing the right thing. I promise.**_

_Oh, shut up, Voice. I really don't need this right now._ I rubbed my temples. _Why can't you ever come when you're needed instead?_ There was no response.I traipsed upstairs and, after getting no response when knocking on Ella's door, turned into my and Angel's room to start packing. She was nearly done.

"Are you okay, Max?" she asked, looking up at me sweetly.

I smiled. "Yes honey, thanks."

She zipped her backpack and stood. "I'm going to go say 'bye to Dr. M. She's really sad." I nodded. She walked out of the room, looking more like a dancer with her easy, light steps than the mutant bird kid she was. I sighed and started to pull clothes from my drawer and stuff them in my bag. There was a light knock on the door, and then it creaked open. I sat on the bed and began putting my "liveables" into my pack. Pocket knife, check. Hair binder, check. Hey, a girl's gotta keep her hair outta her eyes while flying SOMEhow. I was examining my can opener when it suddenly disappeared from my hand. Looking up, I saw Fang. My heart stuttered oddly. _Shut it!_

"Yo," I said, attempting to sound casual. "All packed?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Yep." I plucked the can opener from his hands and our fingers brushed lightly. I felt my face heat up. _Crap, crap, crap._ I hastily began shoving the rest of my stuff into random pockets, trying not to look at Fang. Suddenly, he spoke.

"Max." I jumped.

"What?"

"Don't worry, Max. You're doing the right thing. It's gonna be okay. It IS. Alright?" My breath caught in my throat. How had he known those were just the words I'd been needing to hear? He could read me so easily. To my humiliation, I felt tears gather in my eyes.

"Are-" my voice caught and I had to start over, "Are you sure? It's just that Ella's all upset, and Angel said Mom is really sad, I and I know Nudge doesn't want to leave, not really, she's only doing it because she knows we need to-" Here I stopped, because Fang had clamped a rough hand over my mouth.

"You're starting to sound like her." He paused and flashed me a small grin before continuing,

" That's why we do something, Max. Not because we want to, because we need to. Did we want to go to the School to get Angel back? No. But we had to, to get her back. Did we want to go to Europe to stop Itex? No. But we had to: the situation was perilous. Did we want to go into a tiny, cramped sub that made us really claustrophobic? No, but we wouldn't have gotten your mom back otherwise.

"You see, Max? We need to do these things. We have no choice. You haven't led us wrong before, and you won't now. We have faith in you, Max." He paused to take a breath, and I realized it was one of the longest speeches I had ever heard from Fang. Somehow, it helped. Helped immensely. I closed my eyes for a moment, and when I opened them, everything looked bright and clear again. Did I really just say that?

"Right. Yeah, you're right. We need to get going." On impulse, I leaned over and gave Fang a great big hug. For a second he was stiff, but then he relaxed and hugged me back. "Thanks, Fang."

Standing, I gave him a quick peck on the cheek and then walked briskly out of the room, backpack in hand. I poked my head into Nudge and Ella's room. Ella was sitting on the bed, as though she had been waiting for me. She started to talk, and it all came out in one big rush.

"Max I'm really really sorry I was so mean I was just jealous I didn't mean it I'm just going to miss you all so please please forgive me?" I laughed.

"Of course, Ella. And we're really gonna miss you too. Hug?" We hugged quickly, and when I pulled away I saw she had tears in her eyes. _Hm, _I thought, _must be spreading._ "Love you! Bye!" and I turned and ran from the room. In the kitchen, the Flock was assembled, waiting for me.

"Alright guys, lets do this!" everyone cheered, and we walked toward the door. I was the last one out, and right before taking off, turned around and saw Ella and Mom by the door, leaning on each other. "Bye!" I mouthed, "We'll be back!" and with that, I leapt into the air, unfolding my wings and pushing hard to get up to where the Flock was waiting for me in the bright blue sky.

End of Chappie 2

**Sorry for stealing the whole "Glare of Doom" thing, but it seemed to fit right in with the story so perfectly… please don't give me flack about it, +ahem+ DOALM person… jk. And yes to anyone about to ask I DO chew my ice cream. Its usually freezer burnt, what with my bro and sis leaving it out alla time… and hopefully next chappie things will *spice up* a little.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: fact of life: I love hearing people talk on the phone. Seriously. Its so fun making up the other side of the convo… its quite entertaining. For example, when my brother was on the phone the other day: (he's the quotes, my imagination is the italics)**

"**Hey, yeah, wassup?"**

_**I lost my girlfriend.**_

"**yeah, why are you calling me?"**

_**She dumped me! For another guy! He has a HUGE mole.**_

"**Um... wait, when?"**

_**Last week. She is such a player its not even cool.**_

"**Dude! I wanna play!"**

_**WTF? Yeah, she's hot and all but if she comes back I am not letting her dude. She is such a witch.**_

"**Zombies? No. I've played Wolfenstein, but I beat it like way too many times."**

_**Yeah, she looks like a zombie too. You wanna come over and hang? I got the new COD and you haven't been over to play.**_

"**yeah, I was… busy."**

_**Doing what, seeing a girl? Or girls? Woo woo…. Come on dude, tell me!**_

"**fine, okay I was."**

_**How did you snag more than one? What happened?**_

"**it was sweet dude. I like knifed em, it was soo sweet. The blood, it was everywhere. Hang on, I'm going upstairs, my sis is giving me a weird look…"**

**Ah… that's my life. :) **

**Shoutouts: thank you for all the author/story alerts! I was so happy! I never thought y'all could be so sweet… +tears of joy+ **

**ALERT: I am in need of a beta. If you are interested, PLEASE PM ME! Thanx.**

**Disclaimer: what would happen if I said I DID own Maximum Ride? Would like guys in suits come knocking on my door tomorrow? Hm, life HAS gotten kind of boring lately…**

Chappie Three

_Max's POV_

"Soooo, Max," Nudge called to me, "where are we going anyway? You have a plan, right? I mean, right now, we're just kinda flying into nowhere, you know? Like, we are practically over a DESERT. There is like NOTHING. So like where should we go? Ooh, how about California? Disney World!"

For a split second I forgot to flap, and dropped down a couple feet before regaining my composure. No one seemed to notice but Fang, who shot me an indecipherable glance. Nudge continued talking. Had she even stopped?

"I mean, of course you know, you always have a plan-" everyone turned to stare at me.

"Yes, Nudge," I said in my Leader voice, "of course I have a plan. I'm just… fine tuning it a bit."

Fang smirked, shooting me a _yeah, right_ glance.

I shot him Max's Glare of Doom.

"-because you know, we've already been to France and England and stuff, and I was wondering what South America would be like. OMG! Imagine all the cute dresses! It would be awesome!"

"And this is supposed to convince me _how?"_ I muttered to Fang, who had flown up beside me.

"Food!" Iggy cried, "don't forget the awesome food! Mm, all those spices…. And the girls… Spi-cy!" His blank eyes seemed to gleam.

"What about that huge river?" Gazzy interrupted, "snakes and spiders and bugs and-"

"Its called the Amazon, Gaz," Angel piped up, "and what about the beaches? Come on, Max, please? Please please please?" she swooped up in front of me.

Shoot. Bambi eyes alert. _Don't look, Max, just don't look…_ Only you see, the thing is, its kinda hard to fly with your eyes shut, and I ended up crashing right into Fang.

"What did Max do now?" Iggy demanded.

"Shut up, Ig," I grumbled, trying to smooth my crumpled feathers and fly at the same time.

"Nothing interesting just flew into Fang," Gazzy said.

Now that I was back to my normal, composed self Angel resumed her begging.

"Pretty please Max? PLEASE?" she lowered her voice to a whisper, "I'll tell Fang what you were dreaming last night…"

I flushed. _Darn that adorable evil 7 year old!_

It wasn't like I was having a _bad_ dream last night, just… embarrassing. I had dreamed that me and Fang were flying, side by side – kind of like we were now, I thought with a blush – and we came upon a cloud. It was giant, and the whole thing was pure silver. It gleamed so brightly it almost hurt to look at. Fang nodded toward it and we flew to the top, where we sat so close we were almost touching, and in the dream I remember being hyper-aware of how close we were. And then so subtly I almost didn't notice Fang scooted nearer so that our shoulders were brushing against each other. We sat like that for a few minutes, and my entire arm was tingling the whole time. And then I reached over and took Fang's hand. And we sat on that bright silver cloud, watching the moon, holding hands, until I woke up.

Nudge's voice jerked me back to reality.

"Max? Max? What is up with you lately? You keep zoning out, I swear, its not like you! You're not sick are you? That would be like NOT good. But… we don't GET sick. So-"

I tuned her out and concentrated on Angel. "Don't you _dare."_ I hissed.

"Yay!" she cried out happily, "we're going to South America!"

I was stunned. "What-? Angel! Excuse me, but _I_ make the decisions around here!" the Flock's cheering died down. Gazzy looked downright miserable.

"So… we're _not_ going to South America?" he said quietly. My heart, despite my scolds at it to _be strong!_, melted.

_**Go to South America, Max. The enemy is someplace else, but first you need to gather some very important information there. **_

_Like what?_ I demanded, _how to make plantain pie? _There was no answer. Typical.

"Don't worry Gaz," I said, "we're going. But no snakes on my pillow, okay? And Iggy, cut with the sexism."

They erupted into cheers again.

"Pillows?" Fang muttered in my ear (or as close to my ear as he could get while flying above me – wait, when had he moved from beside me?). "You're planning on staying someplace we'll have pillows?"

"I was being _metaphoric,_ Fang," I grumbled.

He just smirked.

We had been flying for about 2 minutes when Iggy piped up. "Um, Max? Not to insult our great leader or anything, but… isn't South America in the other direction?"

Now, I have no idea how Iggy knew this, all I know is that I got very grumpy and did an abrupt about-face. "We were _warming up._ Got it?" I shot him Max's Glare of Doom.

"She's glaring at you, Ig," I heard Gazzy whisper.

Iggy muttered back "yeah, I can tell. Its like a laser or something…"

I just gave him the Bird. _The idiots I have to put up with, honestly!_

_Fang's POV_

We were going to South America. Huh. Max, being Max, acted as though she had planned to go south all along, but I saw how startled she was when Nudge asked her about it. That, and the fact that we had been flying _in the wrong direction_ were clear indicators that Max was using the famous Max method – wing it.

Behind me, I heard Gazzy and Iggy muttering about 'Max's Glare of Doom' and rolled my eyes. It wasn't _that_ bad when Max glared at you. …oh, who am I kidding. It's like being faced with the Incredible Hulk on steroids and flying straight into the sun – at once. Yeah, it's that bad.

I looked down at the giver of the above glare, to see that her face was all scrunched up in a look of annoyance. Man, she looked adorable like that. I wanted to swoop down and kiss her frown away… and I did not just think that.

"So," I said quietly, so the rest of the Flock wouldn't hear, "anything new from your Voice?"

She sighed and tipped her head back to look at me. "Nah, nothing important, just some cryptic message about "the enemy" and "information" we need to gather down there."

I nodded slowly.

"We'll figure it out when we get there," I said.

She smiled, irrationally causing my heart to stutter.

Her hair rippling back, her face, not crumpled anymore but light and happy… She looked so… what's the word I'm looking for, _free. _We hadn't been flying in so long, I didn't blame her. And now that we had a goal, of sorts, she didn't have much to worry about, the whole _'saving the world and destroying the guys who want to take it over and revolutionize it," _thing aside.

I wanted to kiss her so bad.

…Sorry. Blame the hormones.

Behind us, I heard a mild explosion. My whole body automatically tensed. I felt Max slow, and then whip around.

"What was that?" she demanded.

Turning around, I was surprised how far ahead Max and I had flown. However, with our bird vision, we could clearly make out Gazzy and Iggy's guilty expressions.

It looked as though Angel and Nudge were flying as far away from them as they could without straying out of sight.

"What was that?" Max repeated, this time sounding a bit more annoyed and a bit less alarmed. Which I couldn't help think was silly – Gaz and Ig looking nervous was far scarier in my opinion than, say, 20 or 30 Flyboys. Because you can kill Flyboys.

"Max!" Nudge screeched, her voice faint, "they are testing their bombs! While we are FLYING! In MIDAIR! We could DIE! Me and Angel were RIGHT THERE! It almost HIT US!"

Max sighed, something she seemed to be doing a lot lately. She held up her forearms in an _X_ shape.

_Stop._

Everyone halted. She yanked my arm and we sped back toward the rest of the Flock. As we got closer, I felt something tickle my nostrils. _Was that…?_ If we were on ground, we would have screeched to a stop, but what with us being in the air and all, we just sort of made a _whoosh_ing noise.

Nudge and Angel flew forward as Max narrowed her eyes at the two other boys.

"Why do I," she hissed, "smell _smoke?_" I saw Gazzy swallow visibly.

"Well…." Iggy began, "we were kinda, you know, testing a bomb?"

Max was clearly holding herself back from jumping on the two and strangling the answers out of them. "Alright, I think I got that part. Keep going, and maybe explain WHY you were doing this while you're at it!"

Iggy licked his lips. "Well, you see, since your mom is a vet, me and Gazzy have been… _borrowing_ some of her supplies that have potent chemicals for pyro techniques." He paused and glanced nervously at Max.

Her eyes narrowed, but she nodded for him to continue.

"So anyway, we looked online and found that there were these kind of bombs you could make called altitude bombs. They use them on like airplanes and stuff. And well, since we're in the air a lot, Gazz and me, we figured why not?

"So we got the ingredients, and made some in the Pit, but they're kinda hard to test. Cause the way altitude bombs work, they don't go off till you reach a certain height. Hence the name 'altitude bombs'.

"Well, we were gonna test them, you know, fly way above the woods and chuck 'em and see what happened-" Max's glare stopped Iggy's explanation.

_Uh oh,_ I thought.

"And _what,_" she demanded, "were you going to do if someone saw? Or if they hit someone?"

Iggy fidgeted. "Well, that's the thing. The first one me and Gazzy made, we quartered the ingredients, so the initial explosion wouldn't be as big." He was starting, I noticed, to go into pyro mode – waving his hands and using big words no one understood.

"But when me and Gazzy brought it out to test it, _above the woods_ Max, so no one would get hurt, it was too small. Turns out you need a certain amount C4 and nitroglycerin to activate the explosive mechanism, otherwise the chemicals just neutralize each other."

Angel and Nudge had started to aimlessly drift away, and Max's eyes were glazed over.

"So instead, we only halved the initial ingredients, and tried it then. But it still didn't work. The chemical compound backfired and it exploded in our face. So we decided to just make the bomb using the full ingredients, only we figured it would be too big to test above the woods."

I was beginning to wonder if the smoke was only from the bomb trial, or something else. I glanced down at where the smoke was coming from. Wait – was that fire? I always knew Iggy was hot headed, but… Okay, that was lame.

Max had started talking. "So, lemme guess, you decided to test it on your next long flight, which happened to be this one."

Gazzy nodded guiltily; Iggy just shrugged.

"And you almost blew off Angel and mine's wings too!" Nudge, who had realized Iggy was done, had flown back over. "And Max, just so you know, there's like a huge fire down there. Probably because of Iggy's and Gazzy's dumb bomb. They are SO stupid. I mean really, I don't know why Ella-" she clapped her hand to her mouth.

"Ella what?" Iggy said interestedly. "What were you going to say, Nudge?"

_Real smooth, Nudge. _I thought, _not obvious at all._ But apparently, for Iggy, it wasn't.

"Ella _what_, Nudge? Come on, tell me!"

I sighed. "Iggy, shut up, you sound like a two year old."

He gave me a pitiful look.

"Whatever," I muttered.

**If I were you, I'd go with Max.** I flinched as Angel sent her thoughts to me. Looking around, I saw she was right – Max was shooting down toward the now obvious flames.

_Thanks, Ang. Now get out of my head please._

"No problem!" She said cheerfully, this time aloud.

"I dunno about you guys," I said, "but I'm going after Max."

Tucking my wings tightly against my back, I faced the ground and sped down.

What would we have done without Newton?

Max must have heard me approaching, because she turned around, her hair whipping in her face, and screamed "_There are people in there!"_

My eyes darted toward the blaze; it had now completely engulfed a building.

_Angel, _I thought with all my might, _if you are listening right now, please tell Iggy and Gazzy that they die tomorrow. _Tomorrow, because today I would be too tired. Saving people from fires tends to do that to a body.

We were fast approaching ground, so me and Max unfurled our wings and drew to a sudden stop before dropping the last few feet.

The house, I noticed, was _huge_.

_Hope they got insurance on that…_ the thought popped into my head.

"What should we do?" I demanded, trying to come up with a plan that would prevent Max from doing something stupid like running right into the fire.

"Run in and grab them!" she screamed, pointing. Rolling my eyes, I looked at the burning house. There, on the balcony, was a girl, looking to be around seven or eight. Now, I'm not the most emotional person, not aloud anyway, but when I saw her my heart went out to her.

She was clutching the railing of the balcony, and her face was tear-streaked and sooty. I'm sure she was screaming, because her mouth was open, but I couldn't hear anything over the roaring of the flames. She was tiny, probably up to my waist, but what stood out about her most was her hair. It was white. Pure, shining white, and right now, with the fire burning bright all around her, she looked like an angel. There was no way around it.

But angels, I imagine, can fly, and for some reason I highly doubted this girl had wings sprouting out of her back. I mean, who would come up with something like that? Who would graft bird DNA into a tiny little helpless baby? Who could be that evil?

"FANG, are you listening to me?" Max punched me in the arm. "I said, I'm going up to get her! Unless you have a better idea?"

I admit, I didn't.

I could feel the heat coming off in great swells, drenching me with sweat. I couldn't imagine how the girl felt.

Max took one look at me, and seeing I couldn't come up with a plan, began sprinting toward the house.

The terrace was now almost swallowed up by fire. How much longer could it stand before collapsing? And then I saw it – way, way down at the bottom of a pillar, the fire almost completely eaten through wood. Another minute and the whole thing would fall.

"Max!" I screamed, trying to get her attention, "_Max!"_ she had to fly, there was no way around it, she had to fly right _now_ if she wanted to get there in time to save the girl.

But she wasn't. She was keeping her wings tight against her back until the last possible moment when she would have to leap up and grab the girl.

Our wings, while admittedly made to stand higher temperatures (what with us being closer to the sun while flying) could not, could absolutely not, abide direct heat. From, for instance, fire. Our feathers fall out at an incredible rate, and we lose energy faster than if we were fighting ten Erasers at once with our hands behind our back.

That was a horrible analogy – Erasers would be too easy.

I was already dashing across the lawn, a battle raging inside me: _Max or the girl? _

The girl – if she was wasn't rescued, and _soon_, then she would be swallowed up completely. And if Max flew up to get her, the balcony would collapse before she reached it, and she would have to go back down and start looking for the girl in the ruins. I don't want to think about how much energy she would lose.

I knew that if I took off right then, I would be able to make it to the girl and carry her to safety before I collapsed. I wouldn't lose any energy getting there, and wouldn't have to use up any extra by taking off, like Max would. And we were always faster in air than on the ground.

But…if I got the girl, Max wouldn't be able to tell – the flames were so bright I could hardly make out the balcony. Max, being Max, would think that the girl had disappeared under the rubble of the collapsed balcony – and Max, being Max, would look for her. In the fire.

Because that's who Max is – a crazy, stupid, reckless, beautiful headstrong girl who would risk her life for someone else in a second.

Of course, there was always option B: to simply grab Max before she got to the girl, therefore ensuring Max's safety at the least.

The girl would have absolutely no chance of survival if I chose B.

If Max survived and the girl didn't, she would be heartbroken.

But if I chose A, Max might… die. And Max could not, could NOT, die. Max, who I loved, had loved since I was in a crate next to hers at the School, when she was beaten up and bruised and would still look at me and smile….

All of this ran through my head in a matter of seconds, as I ran through the grass towards the mansion.

I had to make a choice, and quickly: _Max or the girl?_

End of Chappie 3

**Sorry for the profuse amount of clichés in there…. But I ****LOVE CLICHES****! I am a sucker for stories where the princess is trapped by an evil witch and her prince comes to save her, a clichéd story if there ever was one. Let me know if it's getting too bad, okay? **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: wow. You are all so good to me! All those reviews, and alerts, and favorites, and PMs! Do not stop. They are my lifeline – I live, breath, and eat them. They are my energy source, they are the Max to my Fang. They are why I exist…. Okay, not really. But close.**

**ANYWAY. Moving on.**

**Sad fact: I HAVE NEVER HAD A TOBLERONE. Ever. In my LIFE. **

**Kill me now, right? **

**Please read the very important note at the bottom of this chapter. It is very important. **_**Importantly**_** important.**

**This is a filler chapter… sorry! things will speed up again Ch 5!**

**Disclaimer: sorry. I am going on strike. If you send me a Toblerone, however, you might save this author from being dragged off to court and never writing again….**

_Max's POV_

_Hot. It is so freaking HOT. _

Those were my first thoughts as I sprinted toward the burning mansion. And

_Bright._

So so bright, it hurt my eyes to even look straight at it.

And then, _crap,_ _the girl! I have to save her._

The grass was crunching under my feet, dry from the constant swell of heat coming from the fire. My eyes were glued to the girl – the tiny, glass-like figure framed by the roaring flames.

She reminded me of Angel.

I admit it.

Perhaps of she was a boy, or maybe a bit older, or maybe didn't have such a beautiful face, maybe then I would have stopped to think and realized that there was no way she could be saved.

Maybe…

Maybe…

But… probably not.

_Angel,_ I thought, hoping she could hear me, _ I need you to go and get someone. Quick. This fire... it's way too big. Like, if its not stopped, its gonna spread huge and all this dry stuff out here will catch like straw. Wouldn't take long for it to reach a town. And…_ I paused to gather my courage. _And Angel, take Iggy and Nudge and Gazzy with you, kay? Tell the police that they were trying to start a fire or something, I don't know. Just… hurry._

I was almost there now, and the roar was deafening. The heat was so intense for a moment it was all I could do not to throw up on the spot.

My head was spinning; I was losing energy fast. But all I could think was _the girl… the girl…_ I had reached the balcony, and was directly underneath it. For a second my vision went dark, but then it was back, with all the brightness, and I was leaping in the air, _darn the consequences, its only a few feathers…_ and I was going up, up to the girl, _to the girl, the girl, I'm going to save her…_

It was getting harder with every foot to push my wings, but I couldn't stop, not now.

I peered through my blurry eyes, trying to see how much farther I had to go. I could see it, the balcony, and as I angled myself out from under it, thinking _can't be much longer now…_ I saw the girl too, but she wasn't looking at me, she was staring straight ahead, and a glint of gold caught my eye.

A necklace… she was wearing a necklace…

But why was she looking out there, when I was down here? Her mouth opened again and for the first time I heard, actually _heard_ her scream.

It was horrible.

It said, save me.

It said, help me.

It said, I don't want to die.

It said, I am not ready yet.

A splinter of burning wood fell into my hair and sparked but I hardly noticed.

_How far was I now? _ I had to be getting close… it was so bright… and so loud… and I was so tired…

I felt my wings droop.

_Almost… there…_

Something caught my eye. Little black specs, floating their way across my vision as I fell. _Soot?_ They got darker, and clogged my sight. _Move,_ I thought, with no real energy, _I have to get the girl._

They closed over me, and then I fainted.

_Fang's POV_

Max.

She fell. Her wings flew up around her and soon I couldn't seen anything but fire and feathers.

_Max._

I had to get to her, had to save Max, to heck with the girl, we didn't even know her.

I had reached the balcony by now, and Max was directly above me. I slowed and began to descend, trying to lessen the impact when she hit me.

_Max._

She was hot, so hot, like she was on fire. _Was_ she on fire? I hastily did a full body scan, but with the flames all around us it was too hard to tell.

_Max._

She couldn't die. She couldn't.

She was only unconscious, that was why she was laying in my arms so limply. Any minute now and she would stir and demand to be set down…

I realized that I was just sitting there, hovering in midair, and the balcony behind me had already crashed.

When had that happened?

The heat – I had already started to feel its affects; the tremendous loss of energy.

I had to get out of there. Before anything happened to Max.

The girl did not cross my mind once as I flew back toward safety.

_Iggy's POV_

"What is going on?" I cried out. "Tell me, please you guys, I can hear tons of roaring and- and screams!"

Somewhere behind me – maybe 72o counterclockwise – Nudge sniffled.

"Oh Iggy, it's horrible, there's a ginormous fire, that's probably the roar you're hearing, anyway, it's like on a house, someone is IN there Iggy, like they might die-" by now she was sobbing, "and what if they DIED Iggy? It would all be our fault! What should we do?"

Wasn't it obvious?

"Why don't we go down there and help?" I already had my wings angled toward the ground, ready to zip down and help, when Gazzy said, in a tiny voice,

"You know we cant."

"Well, why NOT?" I demanded incredulously. "What, because I'm _blind_?"

"No," said Angel, in a voice far too clear for the situation, "because Max said so."

I whirled on her. "Oh, of course, Max _told _us to just stay up here, right? Because, like, we might get _hurt?_"

"We have to go get the police before this fire gets any bigger, Iggy," her perfect little voice was beginning to annoy me.

How could she be so _calm _right now?

"I dint care, I can _hear_ that girl screaming Angel! Every little shriek to the heavens, I can hear it!"

"I can hear it too, Iggy," now she sounded sad. "I can hear it too, only a million times worse. I can hear her cries for help, in her head, and she thinks she's going to die Iggy, I can tell. But you want to know something? She is worried about the town. That town. Her town. She's worried the fire will spread, and it will all be her fault, and people will die. And she hopes someone will see and put it out _before it kills anyone else._"

I was stunned.

That girl… it was hard to tell over the noise, but she sounded to be young, only 9 or 10.

Was she seriously worried about everyone else?

I made a split second decision.

"Max and Fang are down there, we cant forget that. So… okay, we'll go to town. And we'll let them know about the fire, and they'll put it out."

"2 o'clock, Iggy," Gazzy said in a flat tone.

"And the girl will be saved," I turned and started off. I continued, sounding like Nudge, "and the fire will be put out, and everything will be okay."

No one said anything.

We flew silently toward town, knowing in our hearts that "everything will be okay" didn't apply to us.

_Fang's POV_

Once Max was safely out of the long reach of the fire, I seemed to come back to my senses. I could suddenly feel the searing pain on my wings. I had always known that direct heat was hard on our bodies, but this…

It was like there was a fire running through my veins.

I couldn't imagine how Max felt.

I felt her shift slightly in my arms, and gently lay her in the grass. She moaned.

"The…" she gasped, "the girl…?" her voice was raspy and dry, and I cringed to hear it. But at least she was well enough to talk.

And she was asking about the girl. Typical Max – to think of others first.

And then it hit me – how would I answers Max's question?

The girl, I realized with a sickening feeling, was dead. And I had basically killer her.

My stomach clenched.

The girl. She was dead.

Max couldn't hear this, not when she was in this state. She would probably have a fit and end up hurting herself even more.

And… _I killed the girl._

I couldn't seem to stop thinking this.

_She died because of me._

It was my fault. I could have saved her.

I thought I was going to throw up, right there, on that dry grass, with the vast fire raging behind me.

I thought I might collapse.

I thought I might scream.

Have you ever killed someone?

It's easy, when it's something that isn't living. When it has a computer for a brain, or when it has a face of a wolf.

But to kill a human being… one that you had heard screaming for help not minutes before…

There aren't any words to describe the horrible I-think-I'm-gonna-spew feeling that invades even your brain.

Max's gasping pulled me back into reality.

"Did… did…" she panted.

"Shh…" I said, "Its okay." I lied. But if it made Max feel better, I would lie a million times and do it all over again if I had to.

She closed her eyes and grimaced. "Ow…"

My teeth clenched. _What should I do?_ There was a huge behind me, the Flock was nowhere to be seen, Max was about to freaking die on me, and _I had just killed someone._

My knees buckled, and I collapsed on the ground next to Max. Somewhere through my hazy thoughts, I managed to laugh at the irony.

_Strong, silent, emotionless brick wall Fang, all upset just because he killed one person…_

Bile rose to my throat. I closed my eyes in an attempt to push it back.

Far away, a shout broke through the roaring of the fire.

"Max! Fang!"

It was the Flock. Of course, they had left to go get help, hadn't they? A bit too late now…

And then it actually hit me – the Flock!

And there I was, on my knees, about to hurl.

Grimacing, I took a deep breath past my ragged throat and forced myself to my feet. I hastily put my mask back on, and turned to look at the sky for the kids.

The fire made it difficult to see, but I made out the distant shapes of three flying bird kids.

Wait. Three?

I scooped Max up in my arms, ignoring when she groaned, and leapt into the air.

When I reached the Flock, Nudge – predictably – began to babble.

"OMG, you guys are okay! But why are you carrying Max? Is she hurt? Fang, what's wrong with her? her feathers are all funny, and… ew!" she scrunched up her face and leaned closer for a better look. "Is that… a bald spot?"

Looking down, I saw that it was indeed a bald spot. And it wasn't alone, either. Multiple blemishes dotted her wings where feathers had been burned away.

"Oh, ew…" muttered Gazzy, turning his face away. "That's disgusting…"

"And this is from the one who plays with snakes and spiders when he's not making bombs?" Iggy joked weakly at an attempt to sound like his usual self, but he too was cringing at the state of Max's wings.

Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, I said in a calm voice, "Okay, first things first. Where's Angel?"

Iggy's face hardened as he glanced back in the general direction of the town. "Busy convincing the police that there really is a fire." He made air quotes around _convincing_. "They didn't believe us about the fire.

"'You kids need to go to bed now,' they said. Idiots."

"How did they not see it?" I demanded incredulously. "its huge!"

"The town is down in a valley," Nudge explained, "You cant even see the smoke from down there."

**Fang, the firefighters are on their way. I'm coming, we need to get ready to leave, quickly, so when you see me start flying.**

"Hey. Hey! We need to split. The firefighters are almost here." I scanned the sky. "There's Angel – lets go."

Angel was flying pell-mell toward us, her wings beating like a hummingbird.

"Um, Angel?" Nudge asked, once we were back on course. "Why are we in such a hurry? I mean, everyone knows about our wings already, right?"

Angel smiled sweetly, "Well, they weren't coming, and I didn't have time to find all of the firefighters and get into all of their heads, so I kind of "

"Angel," said Iggy, "you are a very scary girl. You know that?"

Angel did a front flip in response.

_**1 hour later…**_

"Rest time," I said, and angled myself toward the ground.

Max was lighter than the usual 15 year old girl, but carrying anyone for an hour will wear you out. I was tired, and my arms were sore, and, frankly, I needed some sleep. By the looks of it, so did the rest of the Flock.

As we landed, Nudge stumbled and fell, Gazzy plopped down and shut his eyes, and Angel yawned so widely a bug flew in her mouth.

"Gross!" she cried, spitting it out.

"Quiet," Iggy grumbled, "I'm trying to rest."

Laying Max down gently – one night on the ground couldn't make her much worse – I walked over to the edge of the circle and took first watch.

Thoughts flew in circles in my head, nagging me.

_Will Max be okay?_

_What will I do about the girl?_

_How will I break it to the Flock?_

_How will I break it to Max?_

_Where do we go from here?_

_And when is Max going to wake up?_

**Importantly important A/N: this is chapter four, and I said I would go to chapter five, right? So if you all do your math, chapter five IS THE NEXT CHAPTER. So… start thinking! Does this story suck, stink, just kinda lie flat, mildly entertain you, or rock? I need INPUT people, INPUT. Aka reviews and PMs. So, this author is shamelessly begging you: R n R? please? You can do a simple :) or :( if you want…**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: okay, guys, I just found out how to check how many hits you've gotten for your story – I had been going off of how many reviews I received before. And…. WOW. You guys are amazing! I have, like, almost 200 hits! 200 hits, and barely over 10 reviews. I changed my mind. You are in trouble, people. Go sit in the corner.**

**Okay, I'm jk, but still. I need FEEDBACK, my dear readers! I want to know what you THINK! Is this story going to the dogs? Is it flying? Well?**

**Enough jabbering. Here's the chapter. Sorry for the wait…. I've been **_**really**_** busy. This is a very rough chapter, seeing as how I stayed up late writing it and didnt even edit it. sorry…**

**Disclaimer: if you don't know who really owns MR, then you obviously haven't been following the series and you shouldn't be reading this. But in case you forgot: I'm not JP.**

Max's POV

_Okay,_ I thought, _I really need to get out of here._

First, though, I needed to figure out where "here" was. I stood up and looked around me. Hm… white walls, white floors, white tables… why was this all looking so familiar?

That there was a bit of sarcasm for you, folks.

I knew where I was. I was at the School.

Surprisingly, the panic didn't come. The sudden burst of terror? Gone. The tsunami of dread? Nowhere to be found.

Huh.

The rest of my surroundings began falling into place: flat white table, white bed covered in starched white sheets, window in the corner – too small to climb out of, even as scrawny as I was – and a white door. I was also sitting in a hard backed white chair, pushed up against a wall.

_How the heck did I fall asleep in a chair?_ I wondered. _Or more importantly, how did I get here in the first place? Where's my Flock? Are they okay? Are they here too? Shoot. I didn't protect them. _I took a deep breath and forced myself to stop hyperventilating. _Okay, Max, think. What's the last thing you remember?_ I racked my brains, but my memories felt oddly wiped out. The last thing I could remember doing was telling Gazzy to quit singing the macaroni song. It seemed like there was some huge gap in my memory.

Shoot. Had I like, lost some of my memory? Had the Whitecoats done something to me?

_**Memories can never be lost, Max. Just buried very, very deep. You simply need to reach into where they're hidden.**_

_Wow, Voice. _I thought. _Long time no annoy._ There was no response.

_So, you gonna help me get out of this place?_ Still nothing.

I sighed. _Okay, I'll bite: how do I reach into that part of my mind?_

_**You need something to trigger it, something that would reach into your sub consciousness. **_

_Sure,_ I thought sardonically. _I'll just pop over to Mom's and have a poke around._ I rolled my eyes in disgust. _How do you expect me to trigger anything when I'm locked in a room at the School in California?_

_**The School in California was destroyed, Max. You know that.**_

_Okay, then! So tell me where I am and how to escape!_

Silence.

_Typical,_ I thought in frustration. _I actually want a straight answer, and wham, it's gone._

When I stood up, my bones popped. I must have been in the chair a long time, for my body to seize up like that.

"Okay," I said aloud, "time for action." The cheesy line seemed to put some life back in me. I walked toward the door and seized the knob, not expecting it to open. To my utter surprise, it slid smoothly on its hinges toward me. I instantly crouched into defensive position.

Me waking up in an unknown room? That looks a whole lot like the place I had been turned into the mutant I was? And I wasn't locked up? And there was an open door?

Could you _trap_?

Cautiously, I peered through the doorway and down the hall. Long, blank, white… your usual Evil Genius Scientist décor.

I began moving down the hall, alert for any signs of life. Unlike my room, every door that I came across was locked as I continued.

The corridor reached a T, and I debated which way to go. Either way, I would undoubtedly reach something the Whitecoats wanted me to see, so I chose the one on the left.

I tested every door I walked by, and, after one false alarm (it was a bathroom – I guess evil scientists need to pee too) came upon _another _fork.

Just to be different, I chose the right passageway and strolled along, humming _Escape's Futile _by OneStepForward1 in my head.

_And what's the point…_

_Only forward will get you there…_

_So what's the point…_

_Of always running away?_

I laughed at the irony. _Only forward will get you there, _it went. Well, that was certainly true enough – it wasn't like I could escape, so I might as well keep on going forward where I'd probably meet some scientists. Maybe I could bash a few of their faces in…

_So don't look back_

_Don't look for a window_

_Walk towards the door_

_And meet them head-on…_

Hm. Now _that _was an idea. Head-butt. Humiliating _and_painful, double whammy.

Lost in my little reverie, I almost didn't notice a little hallway branching out. Curious, I swerved into it. It was a narrow, but long. I continued down it, stopping to peer inside every window and test ever knob. The windows were curtained; the knobs, locked.

The hallway went on forever, it seemed, and got unnaturally cold the farther I went, until I was shivering. I pressed my face up to yet another covered window on a door and sighed. My breath made a little cloud in front of me. I wasn't getting anywhere. How long was this corridor anyway?

Wearily, I tested the knob, turning away even before I felt the resistance I knew would come.

Crap. _Crap. _This was useless, none of the doors were going to open.

_I should turn back… _I thought with defeat. _There's nothing here. _

I expected my Voice to pop in with some cryptic message and unexplained insistence that I should go on. But he didn't.

I slumped against the wall.

_Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, Angel… _I thought. Were they okay? Were they here too? And how, _how_, had I gotten here in the first place?

I screwed my eyes up and clenched my fists, trying to remember. Remember what, I wasn't sure, but I was sure that there was something I was missing.

_Okay, we were flying, away from Mom's house, we were leaving cause the Voice said we needed to, and we decided that we were going to go south, and then we had to turn around because we were going in the wrong direction…_ I flushed at the memory.

_And the Voice said something, and, and, and Fang and I talked a little bit… _ the memories were getting hazy now, and I began to grow annoyed. _And… and… Gazzy, he kept singing that _stupid _macaroni song… and… and… _ I ground my teeth in frustration.

_Why couldn't I remember?_

_Think, Max, think._

I closed my eyes once again.

_Gazzy, singing the macaroni song… and… and… a bomb._ My eyes snapped open. A bomb? Where had that come from? Was there a bomb involved? I was getting closer, I knew it.

_Smoke… I smelled smoke… _but that was all, I couldn't get any more.

_Ugh!_ It had something to do with bombs, I knew it. I was tempted to hit the floor with my fist, but experience taught me it would only result in a pained hand. I stared at the ceiling. This _sucked._ Majorly. I mean, worse things have happened to me, but that didn't make my situation any better.

Let's recap what's happened in the past hour or so: a) I woke up in the School, or someplace like it; b) none of my Flock were with me; c) I couldn't find a single living soul; d) I was walking into a trap and I knew it; e) I was freezing my freaking butt off. Oh, and f) there was a spider on the ceiling. I hate spiders.

_Okay, _I decided, _one thing at a time._

I started with a. Well, I was doing all I could to escape. There wasn't really much more I _could_ do.

B – where _was_ my Flock? Anxiety clenched my stomach; I hastily moved onto c.

Well, there was that spider on the ceiling. Do spiders have souls? But other than that, _zip._ No one.

As for d, well, I guess I could do something about that – I could stop going. _But where will that get me?_ I thought. The lyrics to the song I had been humming before popped into my head – _Walk towards the door; and meet them head-on._ Well, I might as well, right? Keep walking? It would show them I wasn't scared…

And e, well, maybe I could do something about the cold. _Well, _said the logical voice in me, the one that seemed to lay dormant for long periods of time, _think about it. Why would it get so cold?_

_Extra AC? _I thought sarcastically.

_No, Max, _said the voice of logic. _What gets colder the more you venture into it?_

I knew this one. Easy. _Earth._ And then it hit me – duh! The hallway was slowly going underground! And now that I looked at it, I could see the slight slope. Standing up, I turned around. Sure enough, I couldn't see the entrance where I had started, due to the tilt the floor was at.

_Altitude…_ I thought with a sigh. _Why didn't I realize it before? It's so obvious! The higher you fly, the hotter it gets. It's only natural for the process to be reversed._

Something stirred in my memories.

Iggy, waving his hands around, clearly explaining something.

Gazzy's guilty expression…

"_So we got the ingredients, and made some in the Pit, but they're kinda hard to test. Cause the way altitude bombs work, they don't go off till you reach a certain height. Hence the name 'altitude bombs'." Iggy explained enthusiastically. _

A bomb. They had set off a bomb while we were flying…

It was hitting me all at once; a flood of memories.

_The grass was crunching under my feet, dry from the constant swell of heat coming from the fire. My eyes were glued to the girl – the tiny, glass-like figure framed by the roaring flames._

_Something caught my eye. Little black specs, floating their way across my vision as I fell. Soot? They got darker, and clogged my sight. Move, I thought, with no real energy, I have to get the girl. _

_Fang bent over me, his eyes full of worry and horror and something I couldn't name. "The… girl?" I whispered, my voice raspy. "Did… did…" did she die? Was what I wanted to ask, but my throat hurt too much to get the words out. Fangs face was still tortured as he said soothingly, "Shh… she's okay."_

_Nudge, leaning over me, prying open my eyelids only long enough for me to see that I was in a forest of some kind. "Nothing…" Nudge's voice was quiet, and despite my struggle to stay with reality, I slipped back into the darkness._

_Its warmer, we're not in the forest anymore. Fang, saying in a flat, dead tone: "This is it, guys. We don't know what else to do. We've got to bring her…." Gazzy's and Nudge's protests, Iggy's yell, Angel's sob…_

When it was over, I was on the floor, up against the wall again, shaking – this time not from the cold but the shock too. It was clear now.

I had gotten hurt, badly hurt, in a fire trying to save a girl.

And I slipped into unconsciousness and wouldn't wake up. The Flock grew worried, and, from the bits I captured when I was hovering between sleep and awareness, they realized that they had nowhere to take me but here.

The School.

But… wait. Hadn't the Voice said the School was destroyed? So how had I gotten here? And how did my Flock know where to bring me?

_Well, _I thought wryly, _at least I'm awake now._

I pushed myself off the cold floor and looked back up the hallway. _I got this far, might as well keep going._

And so I went on, testing the knobs and gazing in windows and thinking about everything I remembered. Something wasn't adding up.

It was as I was looking at one particularly dirty curtain that it struck me – _why hadn't the Flock brought me to my mom's?_ Why here? At least my mom was a vet, and not only that, they could talk to Jeb there. As much as we all hated him, he might have know how to wake me.

The tip of my nose felt like it had frostbite, so I drew back.

_Why indeed…_

I was standing staring at the tiny picture window, trying to think why on the Green Earth they would have brought me here of all places, when the curtain twitched. I held back a gasp.

Instincts kicked in as it moved again, and I leapt back and pressed myself up against the wall next to the door.

_Someone, finally. But why now?_

The door hardly made a sound as it swung open, but my highly trained ears heard the faint _sss_ as the hinges slid smoothly together. My heart was in my throat as the person coughed once, and then walked out the door. I saw a foot emerge, and without hesitating, reached down and snatched it. Jerking it up so the person stumbled, I dragged them into the hall.

It was just a plain old scientist, to my disappointment. Complete with frizzy hair and glasses.

"Hey!" she squeaked, "put- put me down!"she wobbled dangerously on one leg. I smirked. "Wha- what are you doing?" she demanded, her voice getting even higher.

"Checking what brand shoes you wear," I said casually, "and FYI, Keds are _so_ out." I gained this little tidbit of information from Nudge when we were stealing shoes from a Walmart a few years back.

She screeched indignantly. "They are _not!_"

I refrained from rolling my eyes, then thought _what the heck,_ and rolled them anyway. I tugged her a bit closer to me.

"really?" I say, my voice losing its laid-back tone, "_really?_ An escaped mutant is threatening to tip you backwards and knock you into solid brick and you're offended because she insulted your _shoes?_" she stared at me, wide-eyed. "Really, if this is what evil scientists are like nowadays, I'm shocked. I mean, come on – you should be angry right now. You should be threatening to like, dump me into a pot of bubbling acid or something!"

"But… they go with my coat!" I couldn't help it – I burst out laughing. This was really too funny. I mean, I almost made her seem _human!_ For some odd reason, she reminded me of Briged. Maybe it was the way she got offended so easily over her shoes. This didn't help her any, however, as I hated Briged. I wiped the smile off my face.

"So," I said, "down to business. How does a person get out of this place? And what's the quickest way to a McDonalds? I'm starving." There was no answer except a squeak. Her hand, I noticed, was slyly sneaking toward the pocket of her robe.

"Ah… no no no!" I said with mock cheerfulness. I pushed her up against the wall and gently smacked her hand. "Don't be calling for help, now! That wouldn't be good for me at all!" I gestured back up the way I had come. "So, again, how do I leave? That way? Or the other?" my eyes narrowed. "And don't think you're gonna tell me the wrong way, either. You're coming with me, and if I see a single Whitecoat you're going to be on the floor, faster than you can say concussion."

Her Adams apple bobbed. I took that as an okay. "Well!" I said happily, releasing her leg and causing her to stumble a bit. "Lead the way!"

_**About a million turns later…**_

"So," I said conversationally, "do you, like, enjoy putting DNA of an animal into little babies and messing up their lives forever?"

I was holding the scientists arms behind her back and forcing her to walk in front of me – this way, I could carry out my promise should we come across another Whitecoat.

"I mean," I continued, "it must be nice, knowing how many people out there are in utter misery because of you. Gosh, you must feel so good about yourself."

She didn't seem to be liking the conversation too much, so I changed the subject. "Hey, how's Borchy? Is he off "retiring" any other innocent mutants? How's he getting on?" her eyes narrowed but she stayed as un-squeaky as ever.

"Come on," I said coaxingly, "I'm only a freak with wings that could kill you about 30 different ways. Don't be so nervous around me! Talk a bit!"

I poked her in the back, but aside from wincing, she kept her lips sealed. "Never mind," I muttered under my breath, "You're nothing like Briged. She couldn't keep _her _mouth _shut._"

The scientist tripped and I had to pull her hands hard to keep her upright. "Hey now," I said crossly, "I don't want to have to be holding you up."

She turned to look at me, her eyes as wide as dinner plates. "You- you know Briged?" she asked with a gasp, but it sounded more like she was choking with her squeaky voice. I froze in my tracks.

"Maybe," I said cautiously. "Why?"

The lady began gasping and shaking, and I had to smack her to get her back to normal. "_Why?"_I demanded again, this time more urgently.

"Be- because she, she, she," she took a deep breath, "she's _evil!"_ I stared. That was rich, coming from a person who tortured little babies.

"What did she do?" I asked.

She only shook her head and cowered.

"Tell me!" I said furiously, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her. "_What's Briged done_?"

**A/N: I'm so sorry for the wait, and I hope this chapter made up for it, although I really didn't like how it turned out. Thanks to turtlelover0511 for the encouraging review; sorry this took so long. :) this is a sorta-cliffie…**

**Anywho – REVIEW, my darlings, if anyone is still reading this after all that time. Please. They are my inspiration to write. And my friend Bronwyn shamelessly begs you to check out our story, Date Gone Wrong, even though in truth the whole story is a bit of a joke.**


	6. Author's Note

**Okay, I've kind of abandoned this story; I admit it. and I'm really really sorry. I know that that's bad etiquette. But it was my first story, and now I've matured a bit, and I can see… it pretty much sucks. There's no plot or anything to keep it moving.**

**However. This does make it easy to mold into a real story. It's a beginning. So, if there are any writers out there who are still just venturing into the writing world, and need something to get started with…. Knock yourself out.**

**You can take this and do whatever you want with it. Butcher it. Beat it. Turn it into a decent story; whatever. Just let me know first, kay? I wanna see how yours comes along. :)**

**Alrighty then, that's about it! Byes!**

**-michelle**

**ps: my other stories are all oneshots or on temp. hiatus, but if you wanted to drop by and check 'em out and maybe throw a review my way, it'd be greatly appreciated!**


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